STANTON (AP) - There's a new twist emerging as some of California's most financially troubled cities look for ways out of their predicaments: They're declaring fiscal emergencies so they can quickly get tax hike initiatives on local November ballots.

FOLSOM (AP) - A big electricity trader may have figured out a way to exploit vulnerabilities in the state's $8 billion-a-year electricity market, just as Enron Corp. did a decade ago, state officials said.

VALLEJO (AP) - Mechanical problems were not to blame for the stalling of a roller coaster carrying a dozen people at a Northern California theme park while the coaster was about 150 feet above the ground, park officials said Monday.

MAN ATTEMPTS TO SMUGGLE METH AS CANDY: LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California man faces federal drug charges for allegedly trying to smuggle more than four pounds of methamphetamine to Japan in what looked like dozens of Snickers bars.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - As state mental health services have crumbled under budget cuts, tens of millions of dollars raised through a tax designed to help the mentally ill have gone to "wellness" programs like horseback riding for teens and yoga classes for city workers. And that's by design.

DEATH VALLEY (AP) - Imagine being the only driver on a two-lane asphalt highway as the stark desolation of Death Valley National park passes on each side and the crystal blue sky stretches up from the horizon.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the recent wild swings in California's gas prices and asked whether regulators can do more to reduce market volatility while government promotes alternative fuels to increase competition.

FRESNO (AP) - Two women have been arrested for allegedly going onto a school campus and assaulting a pair of teenage girls, including one who the women say had been bullying their son, police said Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held a national summit Tuesday calling on Congress to preserve more than $1 billion in federal funding for after-school programs that have been criticized over lackluster academic outcomes for participants.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Charging drivers for access to express lanes on one of Los Angeles' busiest freeways appears to have only partially resolved commuter travel woes: Transportation officials say so many people are using the new toll lanes that the paid route is slowing down too.

MODESTO (AP) - Two men have been sentenced in Stanislaus County Superior Court for first-degree murder and attempted carjacking in an encounter that took the life of a 21-year-old man nearly five years ago.

ANAHEIM (AP) - Four people were arrested Monday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon after authorities said they rammed a waitress with their Volkswagen while leaving a restaurant without paying the bill.

HIKER MISSING 2 DAYS IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK FOUND ALIVE: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - A man missing for two nights in Yosemite National Park has been found alive but suffering from multiple injuries, park rangers said Monday.

SAN JOSE (AP) - One of three teenagers who admitted that they sexually assaulted a 15-year-old Northern California girl who later committed suicide has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by her parents.

OAKLAND (AP) - A 25-year-old man who was struck by a pickup truck and had his wallet stolen while he lay gravely injured on an Oakland street has spoken his first words since awakening from a weekslong coma.